Over the years, GoDaddy has gained recognition for providing services to assist businesses with online tools such as websites; domains; and web hosting services. It may be lesser known that the company has been empowering local business owners in various cities, including Baltimore, by providing everything from in-kind products and services to mentorship through a philanthropic program called Empower by GoDaddy. Impact Hub Baltimore— a nonprofit supporting entrepreneurs— launched a partnership with Empower by GoDaddy in February 2022.
Additionally, GoDaddy Open was held at the Parkway Theatre in Baltimore in mid-October to allow local entrepreneurs and community leaders to connect. It also brought all of GoDaddy’s programs together to highlight the company’s investment in Baltimore’s entrepreneurial community. Free workshops; tools; networking sessions; and stories were provided to support Baltimore’s growing business owners. Baltimore’s Mayor Brandon M. Scott was a speaker.
Geoffrey Brown—a marketing manager at GoDaddy—further explained that entrepreneurs in underserved communities are reached through the Empower program that the company created in 2017. Businesses were able to experience face-to-face interaction to grow their ventures while attending GoDaddy Open.
“This is a program that allows our company to meet entrepreneurs in their communities instead of us doing something virtual like a webinar or a blog where we send out the eBook. This actually lets us get into their community, provide them tools and support them for their everyday small business needs,” Brown said. “But more importantly, I think it really says something about a company going into a city and putting a face with a name.”
Brown further explained that graduates of Empower were also in attendance during GoDaddy Open. The event concluded with a private screening of GoDaddy’s Made in America Season 4 docuseries. Made in America celebrates resilience; grit; talent and determination of entrepreneurs and microbusinesses. The film screening featured Baltimore City entrepreneurs such as April and Tyron Harper. They are scaling their business while taking advantage of GoDaddy and Impact Hub Baltimore’s collaboration.
Photo credit: GoDaddy
“We were a part of the docuseries, and it did allow us to connect to different audiences and give us more exposure, but it also allowed us to be transparent and provide a platform and a voice for business owners or individuals like ourselves that have grown up in Baltimore,” April said, also mentioning the ability to grow connections with Empower program graduates and docuseries participants.
The Harper duo has owned Harp Vision since 2016. They will soon begin the journey of running their business making and selling gourmet body scrubs; herbal bath teas; soy-based aromatherapy candles; and natural soaps full time together. April is also taking college classes online, but entrepreneurship is what they have been called to do. The couple sells products through their website and recently became vendors at the new Lexington market.
“The mission of our business is pretty much to provide assistance for caregivers and chronic pain sufferers and just have them prioritize their wellbeing. Because oftentimes, the caregivers forget about themselves, and the process of taking care of others as well as our chronic pain sufferers such as myself and Tyron. We juggle many different hats. Right now, we’re trying to get the mission out as far as the self-care journey to just to pour back into yourself,” April said.
The Harpers educate customers about chronic pain while offering a quality, plant-based product. April added that the natural soaps have different herbs and properties like oatmeal, goat’s milk, and Himalayan salt. They help with skin conditions such as psoriasis; eczema; inflammation of the skin; and dermatitis.
“We don’t use those harsh chemicals or harsh oils to pollute the air quality. We want to keep it as clean as we can,” April said.
She deals with endometriosis. Her husband copes with fibromyalgia. Their conditions come with inflammation, so the couple created the bath teas to help with it in addition to muscle and joint pain.
Tyron explained how the Empower by GoDaddy program has benefited them. Maximizing their digital footprint included creating a website; learning how to drive traffic there; becoming more comfortable with utilizing social media; having a point-of-sale system through GoDaddy; utilizing a blog; and engaging their customers. Tyron’s wife added that the ability to gain tools to learn more about their customers and utilize the GoDaddy Studio app for promotional purposes was beneficial.
“I would like our brand to be remembered as a selfless brand that goes above and beyond to ensure quality care and basically dedication, when it comes to our customers,” April said.
Visit www.harp-vision.com for more information about Harp Vision. Visit https://www.godaddy.com/godaddy-for-good/empower to learn more about Empower by GoDaddy.